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Defence minister Antony's 'glowing' achievements not rooted in reality? - The Times of India
NEW DELHI: This is one deadline AK Antony did not miss. At 7.36am on Wednesday, three hours before the election model conduct of conduct kicked in, the defence ministry issued an exhaustive list of achievements of the country's longest-serving raksha mantri.
From the "breaching of barriers in allocation of eggs and fruits to jawans" to the "completion" of the nuclear weapons triad, the 26-page document proclaimed Antony had done it all during his seven-and-a-half-year tenure at the helm of the gargantuan MoD.
The document, obviously, skirted the fact that Antony's term — which broke Jagjivan Ram's record of the 1970s — saw one military chief dragging the government to court and another resigning amid the sharpening of the civil-military divide like never before.
The tenure also failed to usher in much-needed meaningful systemic reforms, or fast-track long-delayed acquisitions of fighters, submarines, helicopters and howitzers. There was, for instance, no concrete revamping of the DRDO and its 50 establishments as well as the five defence PSUs, four shipyards and 39 ordnance factories to ensure they deliver without huge cost and time overruns. This was compounded by the repeated flip-flops over encouraging private sector entry into the defence production sector.
Critical reforms like a chief of defence staff post or genuine integration of Service HQs with MoD also remained in cold storage. "The integrated HQs exist only in name, with all the powers being wielded by bureaucrats in the name of civilian control," said a serving Lt General.
Yes, Antony did inject a booster dose of probity into the system. "Behind his (Antony) characteristic unassuming demeanour, there exists a value system which comes down heavily when irregularities are detected in the defence deals," the document noted.
"He will not stand by any act of omission or commission that will bring the armed forces to disrepute or let it tarnish the ideals of the officers, no matter however influential or mighty the accused might be," it said.
Antony debarred six global armament firms in 2012, to add to the ones blacklisted earlier, cancelled the VVIP helicopter contract and referred over 100 cases to CBI during his tenure to send "a strong signal" to all vendors to desist from "resorting to unfair means to win contracts".
But the fact is, that all this has flopped to stem the rising tide of corruption in arms deals, with shady middlemen continuing to merrily flourish and scams exploding every now and then. "The long-winded cumbersome arms procurement procedures provide opportunity for wheeling and dealing at every stage. The entire system needs to be streamlined and simplified. Blacklisting has proved counter-productive," said an insider.
"The Nandas, Khannas, Choudhries and others have failed to go away. Antony should have come up with a proper mechanism to legitimize and regulate defence agents," he added.
NEW DELHI: This is one deadline AK Antony did not miss. At 7.36am on Wednesday, three hours before the election model conduct of conduct kicked in, the defence ministry issued an exhaustive list of achievements of the country's longest-serving raksha mantri.
From the "breaching of barriers in allocation of eggs and fruits to jawans" to the "completion" of the nuclear weapons triad, the 26-page document proclaimed Antony had done it all during his seven-and-a-half-year tenure at the helm of the gargantuan MoD.
The document, obviously, skirted the fact that Antony's term — which broke Jagjivan Ram's record of the 1970s — saw one military chief dragging the government to court and another resigning amid the sharpening of the civil-military divide like never before.
The tenure also failed to usher in much-needed meaningful systemic reforms, or fast-track long-delayed acquisitions of fighters, submarines, helicopters and howitzers. There was, for instance, no concrete revamping of the DRDO and its 50 establishments as well as the five defence PSUs, four shipyards and 39 ordnance factories to ensure they deliver without huge cost and time overruns. This was compounded by the repeated flip-flops over encouraging private sector entry into the defence production sector.
Critical reforms like a chief of defence staff post or genuine integration of Service HQs with MoD also remained in cold storage. "The integrated HQs exist only in name, with all the powers being wielded by bureaucrats in the name of civilian control," said a serving Lt General.
Yes, Antony did inject a booster dose of probity into the system. "Behind his (Antony) characteristic unassuming demeanour, there exists a value system which comes down heavily when irregularities are detected in the defence deals," the document noted.
"He will not stand by any act of omission or commission that will bring the armed forces to disrepute or let it tarnish the ideals of the officers, no matter however influential or mighty the accused might be," it said.
Antony debarred six global armament firms in 2012, to add to the ones blacklisted earlier, cancelled the VVIP helicopter contract and referred over 100 cases to CBI during his tenure to send "a strong signal" to all vendors to desist from "resorting to unfair means to win contracts".
But the fact is, that all this has flopped to stem the rising tide of corruption in arms deals, with shady middlemen continuing to merrily flourish and scams exploding every now and then. "The long-winded cumbersome arms procurement procedures provide opportunity for wheeling and dealing at every stage. The entire system needs to be streamlined and simplified. Blacklisting has proved counter-productive," said an insider.
"The Nandas, Khannas, Choudhries and others have failed to go away. Antony should have come up with a proper mechanism to legitimize and regulate defence agents," he added.
